NEW YORK - The Blue Jackets are trying to work out a contract extension for Sergei Bobrovsky, who is 24 years old, coming off a Vezina Trophy-winning season and entertaining a lucrative offer from a team in Russia's Continental Hockey League. Both sides are groping for comparable NHL contracts, and there is not one that fits.

Michael Arace, The Columbus Dispatch

NEW YORK - The Blue Jackets are trying to work out a contract extension for Sergei Bobrovsky, who is 24 years old, coming off a Vezina Trophy-winning season and entertaining a lucrative offer from a team in Russia's Continental Hockey League. Both sides are groping for comparable NHL contracts, and there is not one that fits.

We are here to help. No, really, it's our pleasure.

Bobrovsky's agent, Paul Theofanous, is holding a strong hand. His client has a Vezina. His client's contract reaches term on Monday, at which point SKA St. Petersburg can open a vault for him. His client can begin soliciting offer sheets from other NHL teams on Friday. The upshot of all of this: If the process is dragged out, Theofanous does not mind, because the price is only going to rise.

So, if you are Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, what do you do? That depends. If you feel that Bobrovsky is the real deal - and his résumé, although abbreviated, suggests that he is - you do not mess around. You do this deal sooner rather than later, because the price is only going to rise.

There is a strong indication that Kekalainen believes in Bobrovsky. To wit: He has said he will match any offer tendered his restricted free-agent goalie by any other team. If you are Kekalainen, do you let it go that far? For instance, what happens when, say, the Philadelphia Flyers swoop in and offer something crazy? After Friday, any one of a handful of teams can step in and set the market price for your property. You don't want to take that risk.

If you want Bobrovsky, you must act with alacrity and decisiveness. If he is your guy, you get it done.

You do not offer him, say, Artem Anisimov money. Anisimov signed a three-year, $9.85 million contract - with an annual salary-cap hit of $3.28 million - this week. Anisimov is a fine player and an important piece. He also is a second- or third-line center. He is not a No. 1 goaltender holding a Vezina Trophy.

If you want Bobrovsky, you do not put him in the same contract range as a top-nine forward.

So, what do you do?

If you want to go long-term, you do not have to pay him as much as, say, Jonathan Quick, who had a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy at age 26. Quick also has a 10-year contract worth $58 million. It was signed last year, before front-loaded contracts were strongly regulated. The market is different now and, besides, Bobrovsky does not have Quick's bona fides.

Here is a long-term deal: four years, $20 million. That is$5 million per, which is more than your second/third-line center makes. You are paying a moderate price to buy Bob out of his first year of unrestricted free agency and you are assigning him the same salary-cap hit as Marc-Andre Fleury, who has a Cup. Done.

From what we have heard, Kekalainen would prefer a two-year deal. He would like to have Bobrovsky next come up with another year of restricted free agency remaining. Fine - but if you're going to go short-term, understand, the annual fee goes up. That is just the way it is, and if you don't get that, you are playing ultracheap with your Vezina winner.

Here is a short-term deal: Two years, $11 million. You assign Bobrovsky the third-highest salary-cap hit on your team, after Marian Gaborik ($7.5 million) and James Wisniewski ($5.5 million). You still have him as a restricted free agent in 2015, and by then you will know, beyond a doubt, whether he is your franchise goaltender. Done.

If Bobrovsky turns his back on legitimate offers, he will at least understand that you are not messing around. After that, he can go solicit the rest of the NHL. Or, he can bolt for Russia and make a career out of stopping Nikolay Zherdev and Nikita Filatov.